Wild and Working
The promise of western lands
Perspective by John L. Koprowski
I was a youngster in Cleveland, Ohio, when the Cuyahoga River started on fire…again!
Reciprocity and Sovereignty
An interview with Wes Martel on tribal wildlife conservation
By Temple Stoellinger
Wes Martel is the Senior Wind River Conservation Associate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Previously, Martel served on the Eastern Shoshone Business Council for twenty years where he oversaw programs and legislation dealing with water, taxation, energy, and environment.
Redefining Thrive
Lessons from my children in the context of climate change
By Corrie Knapp
When she was a baby, my eldest daughter had a strong latch and I enjoyed focusing on her breathing and feeling my milk let down. Allowing myself into this flow that was both release and connection at the same time was a lesson for me, the first of many.
Flight Interrupted
Biologist works to protect eagles on collision course with wind power
By Jill Bergman
There are places in Wyoming where the sky is more imposing than the land. The force of wind and emptiness define this spare country.
Leave it to Beaver
Returning to past practices for future water management
By Tesia Lin
In 2014, John Coffman arrived in Wyoming as The Nature Conservancy’s new steward for the Red Canyon Ranch and quickly encountered an unforgettable lesson.
Creating a Sustainable Destination
Jackson Hole seeks a better tourism future
By Kristen Pope
Hiking mountain trails festooned with larkspur, lupine, and arrowleaf balsamroot flowers; paddleboarding on an alpine lake beneath the Tetons; seeing playful bear cubs frolic; and watching bison graze by the Moulton Barn with a backdrop of towering peaks—these are just a few of the reasons people come to Jackson Hole.
Bison on Wind River
Restoring a wildlife economy and revitalizing culture
By Janey Fugate
Rolling over a dirt road hemmed in sagebrush, Patti Baldes steered her ATV down to the bison herd that she and her husband, Jason Baldes, restored to the Wind River Indian Reservation after a 130-year absence.
Not Fade Away
Communities in rural Montana reach beyond agriculture
By Samuel Western
I’m in upper eastern Montana, a land of undulating drainages, heading north on Highway 87.
Silver Linings
How Colorado coal country could save the Yampa River
By Randy Rea
The Yampa River Basin is in trouble.
Living in a Natural Resource Economy
What can Wyoming learn from studies of the “natural resource curse”?
By Emilene Ostlind
Wyoming has long produced the most coal of any US state and lands in the top ten states for natural gas and oil production. In a fossil fuel driven economy, all that mineral wealth should make Wyoming rich, and sometimes it truly does.
A New Lease on State Land
How conservation is hoping to buy a seat at the land management table
By Birch Malotky
In early November 2020, the Wyoming Outdoor Council’s (WOC) staff huddled around a laptop and logged into their freshly minted account on energynet.com, an online marketplace where 199 leases for oil and gas development on Wyoming state trust lands were up for auction.
Sagebrush in Prisons
Inmates are saving an iconic American landscape—and themselves
By Frani Halperin
On a very windy fall day, Gina Clingerman, project manager for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Abandoned Mines Lands program in Wyoming, walks through rolling hills where a wildland fire torched more than 14,000 acres of sagebrush steppe in 2020.
Free-Range Carbon
Not a silver bullet, but maybe a gold standard, a new market tool benefits climate, ecosystems, and people
By Birch Malotky
When I get Dallas May on the phone for the first time and ask how he’s doing, he immediately tells me, “We were getting ready to start selling cattle and a week later the rains started.
Editor’s Note
By Birch Malotky
When we put out a call for stories exploring how to simultaneously advance social, economic, and environmental well-being, an early response was, “I strongly suspect the concept for this issue is likely to end up focusing on various efforts to apply lipstick to corpses.”